1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an information processing apparatus which transmits, to at least one terminal, the data generated by a device manufacturing apparatus for manufacturing a device, an associated information processing method and an associated computer readable storage medium.
2. Description of the Related Art
There is available a system in which an information processing apparatus acquires the data generated by a device manufacturing apparatus for manufacturing a device and transmits the data to a terminal such as a host computer. Such a system can, for example, detect abnormality in a device manufacturing apparatus, observe the state of the apparatus, and analyze the cause of abnormality. An exposure apparatus which is used to manufacture micro-devices such as semiconductor devices can perform calibration to correct the positions of the units constituting the apparatus, alignment to align a reticle, on which a pattern is drawn, with a wafer, and the like.
Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2001-203247 discloses a system where an integrated information server to acquire and store the operation states of a plurality of exposure apparatus arranged in a clean room is placed outside the clean room.
In the above system, in response to a transmission request from a terminal such as a host computer, the data acquired by the information processing apparatus can be transmitted to the terminal. Assume that when the information processing apparatus has received many transmission requests, the apparatus has unconditionally accepted the many transmission requests. In this case, for example, a terminal which has transmitted a transmission request will keep waiting for the data corresponding to the transmission request assuming that it can immediately receive the data. In this case, in spite of the fact that the terminal or its user cannot analyze the received data and immediately feed back the analysis result to the device manufacturing apparatus, the terminal or its user will keep waiting for the data assuming that it is possible to receive and analyze the data.